Making a Difference

Identi
fi
 cation of strengths
For students who are gifted, learning needs often are related to strengths rather 
than defects or weaknesses. A need can be an extension of a strength or can 
involve learning to use a strategy to support that strength. It is essential to use 
multiple sources of information to identify an individual student’s strengths and 
areas of need. As much as possible, involve students in the process, so they begin 
to identify and understand their own strengths and interests. Look for ways to 
identify not only academic needs but also social, emotional and psychological 
needs that affect learning.
Consider the following types of questions.
What strengths and talents does this student demonstrate?
• 
What is happening now in the student’s educational programming?
• 
What led to this student being identi
fi
ed as gifted?
• 
What kind of data will give a fuller picture of this student; e.g., academic, 
• 
social, emotional, psychological?
What do this student’s particular interests and accomplishments tell us 
• 
about this student’s learning needs?
How can information about the student’s abilities, interests and motivation 
• 
inform differentiated instruction?
There are a wide variety of tools and strategies that students can use to identify 
and assess their own strengths, needs and areas of interest. Creating opportunities 
for students to explore their own strengths will help students learn about 
themselves and advocate for their own exceptional education needs.
Assessment
S
tudents who are gifted require differentiated assessment strategies in order 
to accurately demonstrate what they know and can do, and to allow you to 
make effective decisions about future instruction. These students need assessment 
tasks that generate rich, dynamic and valid data to gauge progress and inform 
programming decisions for individual students. For information on assessment, 
see 
Chapter 4: Differentiated Assessment
.